With an aim to provide world class education in schools of far flung areas of Kashmir valley, five Army Goodwill Schools are adopting digital learning techniques. Under 'Operation Sadbhavana', Indian army is running 46 such Army Goodwill Schools in all the three regions, Ladakh, Kashmir and Jammu where children did not have access to education or the schools. The schools follow national curriculum and filled the gap in the state's education matrix, as such schools play an important role in integrating young population of the state into the mainstream.
Army has joined hands with Extramarks Education Foundation, a not-for-profit arm of Extramarks digital learning, and state-run Power Grid Corporation of India, to set up over 50 digital classrooms in five Army Goodwill Schools. This is the first phase of Digital Education Programme and the remaining Army Goodwill Schools will be covered subsequently.
The programme will run in AGS Pahalgam, Ziran, Uri, Margund and Hamirpur. The initiative, running over 50 digital classrooms will involve equipping all the classrooms with digital hardware, providing state of the art digital solution and training of faculty. It is learnt that 1600 students and 150 staff will benefit from the first phase of the programme.
Announcement in this regard was made in the presence of Army chief General Bipin Rawat, who is on a two-day visit to Kashmir valley to review the security situation after last week's announcement of suspension of combat operations during the holy month of Ramzan.
“Education has not traditionally occupied a prominent place in humanitarian thinking when people think of taking up development work in laggard areas,'' said Atul Kulshreshtha, Founder and Chairman of Extramarks. “Credit goes to the Indian Army for its inclusive approach and grooming the future generation. Extramarks is proud to be part of this noble effort,” he added.
Poonam Singh Jamwal, CEO of EEF thanked the Chief of Army Staff and Power Grid Corporation for giving the students the power of digital learning and a winning edge and shared the committment of EEF to expand the vision from phase I of the programme to cover all AGS schools.